SPREAD THE WORD AT CLWYD THEATR CYMRU: a unique opportunity for emerging Welsh playwrights

ARE YOU WELSH? DO YOU WANT TO BE A PLAYWRIGHT?

THEN THIS UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY’S FOR YOU.

 SPREAD THE WORD is a national initiative to find the next crop of new playwrights emerging across Wales. Working in partnership with SHERMAN CYMRU in Cardiff, Clwyd Theatr Cymru is offering 12 brand new writers the chance to attend a series of weekly workshops in Autumn 2012 taught by professional playwright and screenwriter James Graham. All you need to do is be from, or currently living in Wales, and never have had a play professionally produced before.

James Graham won the Pearson Playwriting Bursary in 2006 and went on to win the Catherine Johnson Award for the Best Play in 2007 for his play Eden's Empire. He is Writer in Residence at the Finborough Theatre and a member of the Royal Court / BBC 50 scheme.

James's play Tory Boyz for the National Youth Theatre caused a storm during its run at the Soho Theatre and received excellent reviews for its portrayal of young, gay men in the modern Conservative Party. His play The Whisky Taster premiered at the Bush Theatre in early 2010 to uniformly excellent reviews.

His first film for television, Caught in a Trap, was broadcast on ITV1 on Boxing Day 2008. James was picked as one Broadcast Magazine's Hotshots in the same year. He has written on the new BBC 1 series Prisoners’ Wives and is currently adapting the bestselling book Gypsy Boy as a feature film for BBC Films.

During the course of the workshops, you will address every aspect of playwriting, from form to dialogue to character to plot, and you’ll have a chance to have your work personally critiqued by one of the UK’s most in-demand writers for stage and screen.

This unmissable opportunity will make your goal of seeing your work on the professional stage that much more achievable. If you’ve got a pile of scripts you’ve written and don’t know what to do with them, now’s your chance to dust them off, develop them, make connections with other aspiring Welsh playwrights and work with James.

To apply, please email a short sample of creative writing to sian.summers@shermancymru.co.uk, marked SPREAD THE WORD – CLWYD THEATR CYMRU. The only rule is that applicants must not have had a play professionally produced. You can be of any age.